Design and Prototype of a Tunable Stiffness Arm for Safe Human-Robot Interaction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu She ◽  
Hai-Jun Su ◽  
Cheng Lai ◽  
Deshan Meng
Keyword(s):  
Impact Velocity ◽  
Robot Manipulator ◽  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Injury Criteria ◽  
Straight Beam ◽  
Head Injury Criteria ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tunable Stiffness

In this paper, we present a tunable stiffness robot link for safe human-robot interaction. Stiffness of a manipulator determines the injury levels of a human from an impact between robots and operators, given a specific impact velocity. Compliance of a robot manipulator includes joint compliance and link compliance. Variable stiffness design from the viewpoint of actuators have been widely studied, while adjustable stiffness robotic link in the application of human robot interaction is rare in literatures. This paper details the design of a tunable stiffness robotic manipulator via four bar linkages which are actuated by servo motors. A 3D model of the morphing beam is constructed, and a robot which is made up of 3 morphing arms is designed. Prototypes using 3D printer are fabricated. Numerous tests have been done, and the results show that the stiffness is able to change 3.6 times given a morphing angle of π/4. Given an impact velocity of 2.2 m/s, the impact tests show that the acceleration has a 19.4% decrease comparing the curved beam and straight beam, and the head injury criteria (HIC) significantly decreases from 210.3 m5/2s−4 to 150.3 m5/2s−4, which is much safer to the operators. This paper explores the research of tunable stiffness on robotic links in the application of human robot interaction, expanding the research arena with regarding to human safe robot design.

A Comparative Study on the Effect of Mechanical Compliance for a Safe Physical Human–Robot Interaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu She ◽  
Siyang Song ◽  
Hai-Jun Su ◽  
Junmin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Impact Force ◽  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Robot Dynamics ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Mechanical Compliance ◽  
Maximum Impact Force ◽  
The Impact

Abstract In this paper, we study the effects of mechanical compliance on safety in physical human–robot interaction (pHRI). More specifically, we compare the effect of joint compliance and link compliance on the impact force assuming a contact occurred between a robot and a human head. We first establish pHRI system models that are composed of robot dynamics, an impact contact model, and head dynamics. These models are validated by Simscape simulation. By comparing impact results with a robotic arm made of a compliant link (CL) and compliant joint (CJ), we conclude that the CL design produces a smaller maximum impact force given the same lateral stiffness as well as other physical and geometric parameters. Furthermore, we compare the variable stiffness joint (VSJ) with the variable stiffness link (VSL) for various actuation parameters and design parameters. While decreasing stiffness of CJs cannot effectively reduce the maximum impact force, CL design is more effective in reducing impact force by varying the link stiffness. We conclude that the CL design potentially outperforms the CJ design in addressing safety in pHRI and can be used as a promising alternative solution to address the safety constraints in pHRI.

scholarly journals V2SOM: A Novel Safety Mechanism Dedicated to a Cobot’s Rotary Joints

Robotics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Younsse Ayoubi ◽  
Med Laribi ◽  
Said Zeghloul ◽  
Marc Arsicault
Keyword(s):  
Good Control ◽  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Industrial Robots ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Physical Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Internal Damage ◽  
Low Stiffness ◽  
The Impact

Unlike “classical” industrial robots, collaborative robots, known as cobots, implement a compliant behavior. Cobots ensure a safe force control in a physical interaction scenario within unknown environments. In this paper, we propose to make serial robots intrinsically compliant to guarantee safe physical human–robot interaction (pHRI), via our novel designed device called V2SOM, which stands for Variable Stiffness Safety-Oriented Mechanism. As its name indicates, V2SOM aims at making physical human–robot interaction safe, thanks to its two basic functioning modes—high stiffness mode and low stiffness mode. The first mode is employed for normal operational routines. In contrast, the low stiffness mode is suitable for the safe absorption of any potential blunt shock with a human. The transition between the two modes is continuous to maintain a good control of the V2SOM-based cobot in the case of a fast collision. V2SOM presents a high inertia decoupling capacity which is a necessary condition for safe pHRI without compromising the robot’s dynamic performances. Two safety criteria of pHRI were considered for performance evaluations, namely, the impact force (ImpF) criterion and the head injury criterion (HIC) for, respectively, the external and internal damage evaluation during blunt shocks.

Design and Modeling of a Continuously Tunable Stiffness Arm for Safe Physical Human–Robot Interaction

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu She ◽  
Hai-Jun Su ◽  
Deshan Meng ◽  
Cheng Lai
Keyword(s):  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Injury Criteria ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Stiffness Model ◽  
Rigid Body Model ◽  
Physical Prototype ◽  
Head Injury Criteria ◽  
Impact Injury ◽  
Tunable Stiffness

Abstract To reduce injury in physical human–robot interactions (pHRIs), a common practice is to introduce compliance to joints or arm of a robotic manipulator. In this paper, we present a robotic arm made of parallel guided beams whose stiffness can be continuously tuned by morphing the shape of the cross section through two four-bar linkages actuated by servo motors. An analytical lateral stiffness model is derived based on the pseudo-rigid-body model and validated by experiments. A physical prototype of a three-armed manipulator is built. Extensive stiffness and impact tests are conducted, and the results show that the stiffness of the robotic arm can be changed up to 3.6 times at a morphing angle of 37 deg. At an impact velocity of 2.2 m/s, the peak acceleration has a decrease of 19.4% and a 28.57% reduction of head injury criteria (HIC) when the arm is tuned from the high stiffness mode to the low stiffness mode. These preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility to reduce impact injury by introducing compliance into the robotic link and that the compliant link solution could be an alternative approach for addressing safety concerns of physical human–robot interactions.

A Continuously Tunable Stiffness Arm With Cable-Driven Mechanisms for Safe Physical Human-Robot Interaction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu She ◽  
Zhaoyuan Gu ◽  
Siyang Song ◽  
Hai-Jun Su ◽  
Junmin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Robot Arm ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Compliant Joints ◽  
Mechanical Compliance ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Tunable Stiffness

Abstract In this paper, we present a continuously tunable stiffness arm for safe physical human-robot interactions. Compliant joints and compliant links are two typical solutions to address safety issues for physical human-robot interaction via introducing mechanical compliance to robotic systems. While extensive studies explore variable stiffness joints/actuators, variable stiffness links for safe physical human-robot interactions are much less studied. This paper details the design and modeling of a compliant robotic arm whose stiffness can be continuously tuned via cable-driven mechanisms actuated by a single servo motor. Specifically, a 3D printed compliant robotic arm is prototyped and tested by static experiments, and an analytical model of the variable stiffness arm is derived and validated by testing. The results show that the lateral stiffness of the robot arm can achieve a variety of 221.26% given a morphing angle of 90°. The study demonstrates that the compliant link design could be a promising approach to address safety concerns for safe physical human-robot interactions.

scholarly journals A Stiffness Variable Passive Compliance Device with Reconfigurable Elastic Inner Skeleton and Origami Shell

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuang Zhang ◽  
Genliang Chen ◽  
Weicheng Fan ◽  
Wei Yan ◽  
Lingyu Kong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Rehabilitation Robotics ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Main Concept ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Switching Speed ◽  
Leaf Springs ◽  
Stiffness Variation ◽  
Low Stiffness ◽  
Large Deflection Problem

Abstract Devices with variable stiffness are drawing more and more attention with the growing interests of human-robot interaction, wearable robotics, rehabilitation robotics, etc. In this paper, the authors report on the design, analysis and experiments of a stiffness variable passive compliant device whose structure is a combination of a reconfigurable elastic inner skeleton and an origami shell. The main concept of the reconfigurable skeleton is to have two elastic trapezoid four-bar linkages arranged in orthogonal. The stiffness variation generates from the passive deflection of the elastic limbs and is realized by actively switching the arrangement of the leaf springs and the passive joints in a fast, simple and straightforward manner. The kinetostatics and the compliance of the device are analyzed based on an efficient approach to the large deflection problem of the elastic links. A prototype is fabricated to conduct experiments for the assessment of the proposed concept. The results show that the prototype possesses relatively low stiffness under the compliant status and high stiffness under the stiff status with a status switching speed around 80 ms.

scholarly journals Soft Robotics with Variable Stiffness Actuators: Tough Robots for Soft Human Robot Interaction

Soft Robotics ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 231-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Wolf ◽  
Thomas Bahls ◽  
Maxime Chalon ◽  
Werner Friedl ◽  
Markus Grebenstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Soft Robotics ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Variable Stiffness Actuators

Determination of Variable Stiffness of a Human Elbow for Human-Robot Interaction

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Boyarsky ◽  
Megan Heenan ◽  
Scott Beardsley ◽  
Philip Voglewede
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Disturbance Rejection ◽  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Human Motion ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Constant Stiffness ◽  
Stiffness Model ◽  
Motor Model

This paper aims to emulate human motion with a robot for the purpose of improving human-robot interaction (HRI). In order to engineer a robot that demonstrates functionally similar motion to humans, aspects of human motion such as variable stiffness must be captured. This paper successfully determined the variable stiffness humans use in the context of a 1 DOF disturbance rejection task by optimizing a time-varying stiffness parameter to experimental data in the context of a neuro-motor Simulink model. The significant improved agreement between the model and the experimental data in the disturbance rejection task after the addition of variable stiffness demonstrates how important variable stiffness is to creating a model of human motion. To enable a robot to emulate this motion, a predictive stiffness model was developed that attempts to reproduce the stiffness that a human would use in a given situation. The predictive stiffness model successfully decreases the error between the neuro-motor model and the experimental data when compared to the neuro-motor model with a constant stiffness value.

scholarly journals Safe pHRI via the Variable Stiffness Safety-Oriented Mechanism (V2SOM): Simulation and Experimental Validations

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3810
Author(s):  
Younsse Ayoubi ◽  
Med Amine Laribi ◽  
Marc Arsicault ◽  
Saïd Zeghloul
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Performance ◽  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Internal Damage ◽  
New Device ◽  
Head Injury Criterion ◽  
Low Stiffness ◽  
Experimental Validations ◽  
The Impact

Robots are gaining a foothold day-by-day in different areas of people’s lives. Collaborative robots (cobots) need to display human-like dynamic performance. Thus, the question of safety during physical human–robot interaction (pHRI) arises. Herein, we propose making serial cobots intrinsically compliant to guarantee safe pHRI via our novel designed device, V2SOM (variable stiffness safety-oriented mechanism). Integrating this new device at each rotary joint of the serial cobot ensures a safe pHRI and reduces the drawbacks of making robots compliant. Thanks to its two continuously linked functional modes—high and low stiffness—V2SOM presents a high inertia decoupling capacity, which is a necessary condition for safe pHRI. The high stiffness mode eases the control without disturbing the safety aspect. Once a human–robot (HR) collision occurs, a spontaneous and smooth shift to low stiffness mode is passively triggered to safely absorb the impact. To highlight V2SOM’s effect in safety terms, we consider two complementary safety criteria: impact force (ImpF) criterion and head injury criterion (HIC) for external and internal damage evaluation of blunt shocks, respectively. A pre-established HR collision model is built in Matlab/Simulink (v2018, MathWorks, France) in order to evaluate the latter criterion. This paper presents the first V2SOM prototype, with quasi-static and dynamic experimental evaluations.

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